Once upon a time, not long ago, and not far away, there was a farm, and listen, a drum.
I think it's a parade, not a circus parade, though.
But on the farm, just farm animals, there, and now it's stopped.
The end of the parade, there's the boot, look up.
Who's playing bass drum, do you think, do you know?
Let's go to the castle and see, I'll hurry over first, and go in the back door, so that
I can let the drawbridge down, and open the big front doors for you.
Are you ready?
Here's my castle.
There we are, inside, here's one little chair for one of you, a bigger chair for two more
to curl up in, and for someone who likes to rock, a rocking chair.
There, now, look up, look up, and if you last, we last rusty about the drum.
Resty?
Parade, parade!
Parade, parade, here comes the parade.
That's a fine parade.
Are you the whole parade?
No.
Do you all want to be around here now?
In a little while, do you have giraffe in this parade?
Giraffe in the parade, too.
That's good.
Here he comes.
Parade!
I know.
How long is this parade?
I'm coming to an end now.
Here's the end coming up.
There.
Oh, that was fun.
That was good drumming, Rusty.
It's a...
Jerome?
What did my plumes get in your way?
Oh, plumes.
They're plumes.
Yeah, I see.
You know, sometimes in parades, horses have plumes on and things.
Are you pretending to be a horse in the parade?
No, I'm a giraffe.
You're a giraffe.
He's a giraffe.
He's the only giraffe in the parade.
Oh.
In fact, he's the only one in the parade.
You're the whole parade?
You and Rusty.
Rusty is the drummer.
And you're the giraffe.
And he's a giraffe.
And we don't have elephants or camels.
No elephants, no camels.
Like the parade is a book.
But the parade's a book hasn't got a giraffe, and we have.
Rusty asked.
There.
What?
What book?
Well, the book about the parade.
Wait for William.
Oh, that book.
You know that.
Yes.
They have elephants.
And they have camels.
Yes.
But they don't have a giraffe.
No.
You don't have a giraffe.
No.
And we do.
Oh, good.
Let's read the book.
It's a good story, too.
Paul.
You guess that?
Oh, wait a minute.
I won't be able to pick up the book with my drum on.
Oh, well, let me.
Excuse me.
Excuse me, Jerome.
Oh, all right.
I'll unstrap.
My, my bass drum.
You always carry that.
I never get a chance to carry that drum, Rusty.
Rusty's a drummer, and he carries the bass drum.
When you have, you have your clones.
I know all, but I'm going to carry the drum once in a while.
Would you like to carry the drum?
I'm at the book.
Well, look, I think we could put the drum right here.
Oh, could you?
Oh, that would be fun.
And then we can put the straps right around your ear.
Oh.
I've always wanted to have the bass drum friendly.
There.
Well, stay there.
If these straps are too tight, let me know.
Here's a book friendly.
Can you help me a little bit?
Let me help.
And look, Rusty.
Look.
Look at Jerome.
Oh, my bass drum.
Oh, that looks nice.
Wait for William.
Yes.
It's all about the parade.
And it's about William, too.
And Charles, it's about these three people.
Nancy, six Charles, eight, and Williams is four.
Four years old.
And it's called, Wait for William.
And it's by Marjorie Flack.
The Houghton Nifflin book.
Mm-hmm.
Tell them about William.
All right, what happened there?
Yes.
William was four years old.
And Charles and Nancy were his friends.
And one day Charles and Nancy came running,
and what did they say?
I thought there was a parade coming.
A circus parade on Main Street, and they were going.
Everybody was going.
Yes.
And Charles was eight, and Nancy was six,
and they ran ahead, and William ran after them.
Mm-hmm.
But he couldn't keep up, could he?
No.
And he was further and further behind,
and then his shoestring came untied.
And they wouldn't wait.
No.
They wouldn't wait for me while I tie my shoestring,
and they wouldn't wait.
They wouldn't wait.
Went right on down to Main Street to wait for the parade to come.
Mm-hmm.
And they didn't wait for William.
What did William have to do?
Well, he had to go by himself.
He had a tie as shoe.
He had to stop in a corner.
Mm-hmm.
And then what happened?
Well, then, the parade came...
Oh, don't tell.
Don't tell him yet, Jerome.
Well, I know what happened.
I know you know.
Let's keep it at a surprise.
William stopped to tie his shoelace.
Yes.
And he heard circus music coming nearer and nearer,
and then William saw the circus parade coming to him.
That's right.
Coming to William on his way to Main Street.
And first came the horses.
Mm-hmm.
And then came the band on a big bandwagon, I think.
There he goes on and off and everything.
Mm-hmm.
Lions.
And there they are with red and blue uniforms.
Mm-hmm.
And six horses.
See, they have plumes just like Jerome had.
That's right.
And after the band came the camels.
And someone riding on top.
And they have a little plume, too.
Mm-hmm.
And then came a man leading an elephant.
Oh.
And the man saw William.
He saw William standing all alone.
All alone because Charles and Nancy and everybody else.
Everybody else in the whole village of Pleasantville had gone to Main Street
to see the circus parade.
Wanna ride?
Called the man?
Yeah.
Yes, said William.
Mm-hmm.
So the man lifted William up, up high on the elephant.
And?
Not high, too.
William and the elephant.
Paradeed along to Main Street.
Mm-hmm.
One, two, elephants, two camels.
And the band.
Eight horses.
Mm-hmm.
Nine horses.
Nine horses?
William was so high.
The branches of the trees were near him.
And he looked down, way down on all the people of Pleasantville,
as they stood on Main Street to see the circus parade.
Almost as high as you, Jerome.
William passed by the drugstore.
He passed by the grocery store.
And he passed by the church.
And then, when he came to the post office,
William looked down, way down.
And there he saw Charles and Nancy and all their friends.
See?
There they are.
Watching.
Charles and Nancy and all their friends looked up, way up.
And they're on top of the elephant.
They saw William riding the elephant in the circus parade.
Look at William, shouted Charles.
Look at William!
Shouted Nancy.
And look at William, shouted all their friends.
And then, they all ran along beside William,
as he rode the elephant in the circus parade.
Yes.
They went up Summer Street and then down High Street.
And then they came to the corner of Pollywinkle Lane.
And then the man lifted William down.
He lifted William down, way down to the ground again.
Thank you for the elephant ride, said William.
And the man said, you're welcome.
And then the man and the elephant went away.
And not many children ever get an elephant ride.
Tell us about it, said Charles.
Tell us about it, big Nancy.
Tell us about riding the elephant in the circus parade.
Bigged all their friends.
But William said, wait.
Oh, wait.
My other shoe is untied.
Oh, I remember this part.
Very well.
You think they waited?
Well, this time finally.
Charles waited.
And Nancy waited.
And all their friends waited.
While William tied the shoestring in a good firm knot.
And they waited while he slowly and carefully made the ends into a proper knot.
Proper, neat bow.
And then slowly they walked.
Walked slowly with William as he told them about riding the elephant down Main Street.
Down Main Street in the circus parade.
Oh.
They waited.
They waited that time.
Well, they had to find out how he got on that elephant.
They didn't wait the first time.
No, but.
And he was walking slow too.
Yes, he was four years old.
He was not as old as the others.
Charles was eight.
And one of them, Nancy was six.
Oh.
Rusty?
What?
Would you get the Giants played, please?
Oh, all right.
That was a good circus parade, but it didn't have a giraffe.
No, I didn't.
I didn't have a giraffe carrying a bass drum.
Here it is.
There.
Well, it's the first time I've ever had the bass drum.
Mm-hmm.
Can you play the bass drum, then, drum during the sleepy music?
Well, I couldn't play it.
Well, I could hit it, maybe.
You couldn't hit it with your ear.
Play it by ear.
No.
Don't go that far.
Rusty, can you reach?
Way over there.
I'll move over here.
Way over.
There.
Hit it now.
Let's see.
How's that?
That's good.
Ready?
Hi, Willie.
AHH!
Oh, my head's ringing a little loud.
Oh…
Oh, my butt!
Ooh, that looks funny.
Oh!
Goodnight.
Goodnight, friendly.
Goodnight, Gerald.
Goodnight, friendly.
It is late.
light. This little chair will wait for one of you and the rocking chair for
another who likes to rock and the big arm chair for two more to curl up in when
you come again to our castle. Now I'll close the big front doors and pull up the
drawbridge after you're gone. Good night. Good night.
You